One thing about Congres which annoys many people who follow politics is how our elected officials (and not just Democrats) add amendments to bills unrelated to the original legislation. They try and tack their pet projects — or controversial items which could not pass as stand-alone legislation — onto bills which would normally sail through Congress.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is doing just that by adding “the DREAM Act, a controversial immigration measure, to a defense policy bill the Senate will take up next week.”
Senate Republican Leaders Mitch McConnell dubbed the maneuver, “needlessly controversial.”
This isn’t the only provision tacked onto the defense bill. Democrats have already included legislation repealing Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell (DADT). But, at least this repeal is related to a defense bill.
Reid’s ploy to win a few votes in his home state will only make it that much more difficult to push through DADT repeal.
Honestly, it seems more to be a simple political maneuver for the upcoming elections to satisfy or electrify his base. If the bill passes he can claim victory for his gay and hispanic base. If the bill fails he can blame the Republicans and ask his base to vote Democrat to avoid such a loss in the future. Nothing meaningful, all politics.
Dan, I think you miss the true problem of the bill.
Despite promising to wait until studies were complete, Harry Reid is attaching DADT to a budget bill. In adding the DREAM act he’s compounding the problem.
Harry “The War is Lost” Reid is basically playing with the lives of the men and women who volunteered to defend this country to advance his political agenda. Sharon Angle should have a field day with this.
Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell & the Dream Act attachments put the defense bill in peril of not passing; many Democrats & Republicans are not going to vote for these controversial measures on the cusp of the midterms.
Sidebar:
Hey ASS, your beloved big government regulations are killing mining jobs.
Appalachian Coal Miners Say EPA Rules Are Killing Their Jobs
http://tinyurl.com/27uz4p8
Of course Reid is compromising DADT by piggybacking the DREAM Act to the same Defense Appropriations Bill. Though many on both sides of the aisle are for ending DADT, Liberals especially are not willing to walk a plank for Harry Reid by granting amnesty to illegal aliens. Not now… not when the political lives of so many on both sides of the aisle are tenuous at best.
“Here’s an update on the Make-It-Across-the-Border-and-Your-Kids-Get-Green-Cards-Act … sorry, the “DREAM Act”: It appears to be headed for a vote next week.To reiterate: The problem with this bill is not just that it’s apparently been drafted as a stealth mechanism to allow lots of illegal immigrants to claim they qualify and thereby achieve legal status, although it has. Even were it restricted to its core purpose–compassionate treatment for eager students brought into the country by their parents when they were young–it would inherently create an incentive for further illegal border crossing (namely by telling potential illegals to bring their kids across the border when they are young). … Now that the government is finally (seemingly, at least temporarily) trying to remove the “jobs magnet” for continuing illegal immigration, this is not the time to activate an alternative “kids magnet.” … Once the borders are reasonably impervious, then all sorts of compassionate semi-amnesties become much more feasible. But a vote for the DREAM Act now is in practice a vote for more illegal immigration (as many of its supporters surely understand).”
That comment first appeared on the pages of Slate Magazine /Kausfiles:Mickey Kaus back on Friday, September 21, 2007… Now whether you agree with him or not, Mickey Kaus is a full blown liberal… just like Mary Landrieu, Mark Pryor and Robert Byrd are, who by the way voted against the Bill in 2007.
Senator Max Bacus, who was up for re-election at the time, said and I quote “People are very upset, they’re outraged; it’s like amnesty, it’s virtually the same” he said after casting his “no” vote….. Sounds like something that could be said today, right?
I called Kerry’s office about this this morning. Poor girl who answered the phone was not ready for me.
First, she said that many people support the Nightmare Act. I said, “Sure. Left wing Latino groups like LaRaza and Mecha support it. Why does my Senator?”
She put me on hold then came back and said something about him feeling it was his moral obligation.
Stoopid Democrats….always feeling moral when it hurts fellow Americans.
In general, changes need to be made vis-a-vis clumping stand alone provisions into loosely related Bills. Although this is not an exclusively left wing tactic, it is still part and parcel of what makes Democrats infamous stealth legislators. The healthcare bill is easily the quintessential example of hidden provisions and regulations, except in the case of repealing DADT it is hidden in order to kill it rather than for sneaking it passed opposition. In any case, I’d still love to hear more pro/con perspectives from Gay Soldiers themselves on this issue. We hear from every self serving politician claiming to empathize with gay soldiers, but we don’t hear enough from those who will be most affected by the repeal. I have no doubt that gay soldiers want first and foremost, to serve their country. That is why I don’t want this to be another action taken simply for the selfish interests of politicians rather than for improving the morale of gay and straight soldiers alike. Thanks GAY PATRIOT for a great blog.